


Ayurnamat

by kanpekinalady



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, asoiaf au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-27
Updated: 2013-11-27
Packaged: 2018-01-02 19:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1060673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanpekinalady/pseuds/kanpekinalady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>gale , asoiaf au , gadge , (class difference)</p><p>ayurnamat : the philosophy that there is no point in worrying about events.</p><p>this was written for a tumblr prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ayurnamat

**Author's Note:**

> So this takes place right after House Lannister takes care of the Reyne Rebellion and leads all the way up until the Northerners invade the Westerlands. I chose Tarbeck Hall because of the gold mines and thought that would be a good replacement for the mines of district 12. Since this takes place in a medieval-ish setting, there is no piano to play. So I made Madge play the flute instead. Hopefully, you'll enjoy this!

When House Reyne falls, House Tarbeck falls with them. And it is from these ashes that House Undersee rises. The Lannisters gift them Tarbeck Hall for their loyalty and the mines that come with it. Theirs is a tale that young Gale Hawthorne sees come alive before his very eyes and one that shall be sung for many years to come. 

With House Undersee comes a young girl named Madge. The first time Gale sees her he is ten, clinging onto his father's hand as they scour the merchant's ware. It is a rare day. One that Gale won't soon forget, clinging onto his father's hand. Lady Madge is younger still. She runs through the cars, tugging her Septa along by her skirts. Long blonde hair twirls around her shoulders and bounces down her back in loose curls. Her blue eyes twinkle with mirth and her giggling bubbles up from the stomach, infectious to all that look upon the scene.

Gale is envious of her easy smiles and careless dancing on the road, so ignorant to the world that spins on around her. He hears his father chuckle at the sight and Gale tries his best to understand why.

It turns out Lady Madge is not allowed out of Tarbeck Hall very often. When Gale asks, his father tells him it is to be expected. She is the lone heir to House Undersee and her mother is sickly, bedridden, Lord Undersee too in love to consider a second marriage. Without her, their line would bleed out. So it is only natural he would like to keep his daughter within safe walls, protected from all harm that may befall her amongst the lowborn brutes. There is a scornful tone to his father's voice, one that Gale will soon learn to adopt. But for now he furrows his brows and wonders if she is really fine, hidden in her world of golden spoons and silver silks, locked up in Tarbeck Hall.

She graces the market again when Gale is fourteen. She is twelve, if the maidservants' gossip is correct. He is still young but soon to mature. His father has fallen victim to the mines not many moons ago and in few days time Gale will join him there. His skin will toughen and his eyes will harden, his smile will eventually fade. He is considered grown, but he is still young. Angrily so. 

Madge sifts through the crowd eagerly, her locks now tied in a long braid. A pink ribbon jolts along to her every step. The common folk seem to like her well enough, or feign to like her well enough. She plays a lively tune on her flute for the children that have gathered around her. She holds their hands, teaches them song and dance and spins them round in circles until their heads are dizzy and their laughter loud. Madge does not shy away from the baseborn and Gale admits they could have had far worse for lordings than House Undersee. His fingers tap along against his satchel secretly.

But rain has fallen mercilessly across the Westerlands lately and the ends of the white gown she wears twist in the mud and sodden soil. And yet she carelessly keeps on singing and dancing, cannot bring herself to mind the ruin of her dress. It serves as a harsh reminder that they come from different worlds. Madge can afford another dress, white and pure and ruined, has tens more waiting for her in her chambers. Gale thinks of his mother, the seamstress, and how she would wince at the sight of the dirtied fabric. Thinks of the probability that he will never get to wear white. 

Maybe it serves a reminder that when Madge steps outside of those walls, she will never belong.

Whispers of marriage spread across the people. They are excited, eager and elevated. It is about time, they say. She will not wed for a few more years to come, but the merry smile slips from her lips all the same. He catches her gazing out a window once, elbow propped up on the pane, chin resting lazily on her palm. Her long hair blows softly in the wind and she reaches out a hand to a bird flying by. It soars through the skies and quietly mocks her from a distance. She spreads out her fingers against the sunlight and a wistful look crosses her features as the bird flies off. A mockingjay, he muses to himself and returns to his everyday work.

Gale wonders if she wants to fly one day. When he is down in the mines, digging deeper into the darkness, he entertains the idea of rushing out to save her. Some nights he dreams of it too. Of what it would be like, stealing her from the castle, making the best of things in the free cities. But he is a miner's son and she is a lord's daughter and he knows that with each chunk of gold he digs up, she grows richer and so does the distance between them. It is a silly wet dream, nothing more.

When she is sixteen of age she will marry a second son of a lower house and he will become heir to Tarbeck Hall. She will soon sit by her mother's bed, holding her hands and caressing her hair. She will kiss Lady Undersee one last time and bid her farewell. Her husband's seed will quicken in her womb and she will bear him sons and daughters, strong and wise and beautiful. Some of them will not grow to see twenty, sixteen even. Others will grow to be eighty. She will surprise those around her with her shrewd political intellect, which will far succeed her lord husband's. She will be loved by her people until the Northerners will ravage Tarbeck Hall and put her aged and wrinkled wrists in chains. Then she will disappear. 

Gale will mine for his family until his younger brother grows of age. He will court a young lass and wed her. His will be an ordinary life, void of excitement apart for the anxiety he feels when he suffocates in the ever frivolous mines. He will have sons, and plenty. But he too will lose most, to famine, to the war, or to stubborn beliefs he should never have planted there. No matter, he will always bristle and seethe when he sees the injustice done to the common folk, when he sees highborns that smell of roses and wear gold as if it is any ordinary rock. His wife will always shush him, place a gentle hand upon his arm, calm the storm that is ever brewing. But that is all he will ever be. A cooking storm. Almost boiling. And he will wile his life away a miner. Looking on as the nobles play their games and toss their dice.

And when House Undersee falls to the Northern lords and her husband loses his head, Gale will try not to dwell. Not to think of a young man's foolish dreams. For she was the Lady of Tarbeck Hall and he a mere gold miner. Their worlds were never meant to clash. There never was a better path to take, a satisfactory corner to turn. There was nothing that could have been done that would have made it end a different way. It is useless to dwell. So he dwells not.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it. Criticism or advice is always welcomed. :)


End file.
